Laughing in the Spirit
In my opinion, this is one of the neatest manifestations that you can receive from the Lord. I never cease to marvel and awe at this manifestation when I actually get the chance to hear it come into manifestation through someone else. For those of you who have never had this manifestation occur - it is simply either God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit laughing through your spirit. It is God literally laughing through the Holy Spirit, who is already living and dwelling on the inside of your human spirit. It is God's laughter when it occurs, it is not your laughter. When it manifests, it will bubble or erupt right out of your belly area. How do you know when it is God laughing through your spirit rather than your own natural laughter manifesting? When it comes from God through the Holy Spirit - it is much more intense, powerful and fuller. When it is coming direct from the Lord, you will literally be laughing as hard as you can for as long as it lasts. It can last anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 or 15 minutes on a rough average. If it lasts up to 10-15 minutes, there is a good chance that your stomach muscles will be sore for a day or two following it due to the maximum intensity of the actual laughter itself. There is also an extreme amount of joy that will come with it when it does manifest. One of my personal friends has had this manifestation occur about 4 or 5 times literally right over the phone while we have been talking. The way that I know it is coming from the Holy Spirit rather than it being her own laughter is that when it starts to bubble or erupt up in her, it is much more stronger and much more intense than her own belly laugh. It also feels much more fuller than her own laughter. Another clue I have when it is the Holy Spirit rather than her own natural laughter is the tone of it. When it is the Holy Spirit, the laughter has a higher pitch than her own normal laughter does. Her normal laughter surprisingly has a lower pitch or tone to it as versus when the laughter is coming in from the Holy Spirit. With her, since I know what her normal laughter sounds like, I can always easily discern when the laughter is coming in from God or not. And the times that I have heard it erupt right in the middle of one of our phone conversations is really a true blessing because I know it is coming direct from God Himself and I always feel honored and blessed that He would show Himself this way right in the middle of one our phone conversations. When it does manifest in the middle of one our phone conversations, I have noticed that it can occur for absolutely no reason at all. In this case, I've always felt that God is simply releasing His joy and His laughter into the situation as if He is enjoying our company. The other time it will manifest is when one of us says something that seems to hit God's funny bone. When His laughter then manifests off of a particular statement, I always feel like I get just a bit of an insight as to what may make God laugh. Now here are the attacks that are coming from other Christians who simply don't understand this manifestation.
Arguments Against This ManifestationTheir arguments against this manfestation as being from the Lord are the following:
Now to the argument that I feel will give us the correct angle in which to look at this manifestation from. Arguments For This Manifestation1. All of what they say is true per all of the above arguments. However, where they are missing the boat on their arguments is the angle they are looking at this manifestation from. They are keying off of the wrong Scripture verses. The Bible says that God has made man in His image and likeness. We all know that many of our emotions are the same range of emotions that God has. We all have emotions such as love, joy and sadness. And within our emotional structure is the ability to laugh. If God has many of the same emotions we do since He has made all of us in the image and likeness of Himself, then it is only logical to conclude that God can and does laugh Himself. The Bible is full of stories showing the wide range of God's emotions being expressed - everything from extreme love, mercy and kindness to furious anger and wrath.
I believe the answer is yes, and here is the verse that proves, in my opinion, that this laughing manifestation from the Lord can occur in us through the Holy Spirit.
I believe the two words "manifest Myself" are literal interpretation. I believe this verse is telling us that manifestations from God are possible to receive in this life. We all have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us. It is through the Holy Spirit that these manifestations from God are being transmitted to us. Some of you on my personal email list have had the stirrings from the Holy Spirit. You all know what they are like. Again, I feel these stirrings from the Lord are being allowed to come to us based upon the revelation that is in this verse. What I have personally found out through these stirrings, is that in addition to the basic love stirrings that we can all get from the Lord, that God can also manifest His other different emotions to us through the Holy Spirit. We thus can feel and experience not only God's love through these basic stirrings, but also some of His other emotions like sadness, grief, joy, elation, happiness, frustration, anger and wrath. Some of you have had what I call sadness manifestations on the inside from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is manifesting His and God's sadness on a particular situation that you may be involved in. You can usually tell when it is God's sadness rather than your own sadness because it is much more deeper and intense than your own natural sadness. 2. So if God can manifest some of His emotions on the inside of us where we can actually feel it - then it is only logical to conclude that God can also manifest His laughter on the inside of us since laughter is simply the release of feeling joy and happiness. And we already know that God has plenty of joy and happiness within His own personality. Thus the above Scripture verse gives us the appropriate grounds in which to accept these emotional manifestations from the Lord on the inside of us through the Holy Spirit. The Christians who are arguing against this manifestation are keying off of the wrong Scripture verses. Just because laughter is not listed as one of the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit does not mean that it is not possible to receive from the Lord. For instance, the quality of boldness is not listed as one of the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit. However, the Bible is full of stories of God's boldness being manifested through the Holy Spirit onto His people. Just look of the story of Pentecost itself. The apostles were a timid bunch until they received the Holy Spirit in the upper room on Pentecost. When they came out of that room, they came out with God's boldness and authority operating through them because they were all now Spirit-filled and Spirit-empowered. The boldness of the Holy Spirit was now operating through them because they were going to need His boldness in order to start preaching the Gospel and to get the ball rolling. However, boldness is not listed as one of the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit. But there is no question that God can manifest His boldness through anyone should He choose to do so. And when He does manifest His boldness through one of His own, it is an actual manifestation. It is God's boldness operating through you - it is not your own boldness. So if God can manifest His emotion of boldness through you, even though it is not listed as one of the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit, then again, it is only logical to conclude that God can also manifest His other emotions through you such as laughter, even though some of these other emotions such as laughter are not listed as one of the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit. ConclusionIf any of you are ever faced with other Christians who will try and argue that this manifestation is not from the Lord, try giving them the above argument off of the above Scripture verse. As for me, I really believe that the above verse from John is the appropriate verse in which to base not only this particular manifestation on, but also any other emotional manifestations that God would like to manifest to us through the Holy Spirit. For those of you who get the basic love stirrings from the Holy Spirit, but not much of some of the other emotions that God is capable of transmitting to us such as the laughter, I feel all you have to really do is go to God the Father and put the request on His altar. Tell God that He has a green light in which to manifest any of His other emotions to you through the Holy Spirit such as the laughter, and that you would really welcome receiving some of His other emotions as actual manifestations through the Holy Spirit. Simply ask and you may just receive. However, I have to give each of you fair warning about doing this. I feel like one of the things the Holy Spirit has conveyed to me is that everything about God, Jesus and Himself is that They are a God of maximum intensity. All of the emotions that They experience are of maximum intensity. This is why when God's laughter does manifest through you, you are literally laughing as hard as you can. On a scale of 1-10, it can get close to being a solid 10, if not a full 10 itself. However, we have also found out that God can adjust the intensity of these manifestations. We have all learned to rate, on a scale of 1-10, the intensity and strength of these actual manifestations. I feel that God is well pleased with us when we all go this extra step to rate the intensity of the stirrings and manifestations. This shows Him that we are all trying to fully understand exactly what He is trying to do with each one of us, and that we are really appreciating the different levels of intensity with which He can choose to set the different manifestations at. God's knows each one of us perfectly. He knows all of our strengths, weaknesses and limitations. For those of you who would like to venture a little deeper with the Lord in this area, you can trust that He will know how to perfectly handle each and everyone of you. He'll adjust the intensity and frequency levels of these manifestations according to your own personal limitations. I can tell you from personal experience with working with some of you, that God will not overwhelm you with this heavier manifestation activity. He'll start you off nice and slow so as not to scare you or overwhelm you. Also, do not ever compare your level of manifestation activity that you get from God with anyone else. You are all on your own individual journeys with the Lord and He is working with each one of you according to the plans and designs that He has in store for you in this life. Some of you will end up going farther in this manifestation realm with the Lord than others will because you won't have a lot of the natural fears and hangups of this heavier activity like some people seem to have. What I have found from personal experience is that many people are simply afraid of God - especially when you get into the realm where God can manifest Himself to you in different ways. They prefer to keep God at a distance. However, I am sure that all of you will agree that have had direct manifestation activity from God - that there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of when God does start these manifestations, and that it is one of the most miraculous, liberating and exhilarating experiences that you can have this side of heaven. There is absolutely nothing like it. I'm going to go ahead and do another article on this topic. The next article will be titled "Groaning in the Spirit" and will also be in the Miscellaneous Section of our site. This is where God will manifest His pain or sadness through you on a particular situation that you may be dealing with or personally involved in. There are some real interesting things that will occur when this particular manifestation comes in on you.
Slain in the Spirit - Bible Verses Join Our Free Newsletter
> Michael Bradley Scripture taken from New King James
Version. |
his is another phenomena that is under
attack by other Christians and Christian groups. A number
of us have had this particular manifestation occur, so we
all know, without any shadow of a doubt, that this is
truly a real manifestation from the Lord.
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Google Bookmarks
Livejournal
Stumbleupon
Yahoo My Web
Reddit
Blog
Search
Christmas Shopping?
Save at our Christian Book Store
Click here to add this page to your favorites
|
Bible Lessons |
|
Ministry Info |
|
Other |